Ralph Mulford

RALPH MULFORD raced from 1907 through 1925 and, despite his reluctance to compete on Sunday, compiled an impressive list of victories in all types of competition. Most major races in the early 20th century were held on Saturday. He dominated the early 24-hour races for Lozier (alternating at the wheel with another driver) and excelled in the longer road races of his time. He won the 1910 Elgin, Illinois, race and the 1911 Vanderbilt Cup race at Savannah, Georgia. Mulford placed second in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in his first of ten consecutive Indianapolis 500 starts, and was later declared the 1911 National Champion. He is credited with 17 championship wins, one of which was in the 1915 300-mile inaugural race at the Des Moines, Iowa, board tracks, which he won in a Duesenberg. Mulford continued to win on the board tracks after World War I while also setting new stock car records for Hudson and Chandler.